Quite the Glow Up
By Lisa Arnett
November 2025 View more Home
Reimagining this Naperville home’s first floor
When a Naperville couple hired Elizabeth Prignano of Wheaton-based Glow Interior Design to revamp their home’s first level, their goals were to improve the flow of the floor plan and increase storage. “They have two children and have lived in the home for a while but felt like they were outgrowing it because of how the home was originally set up,” Prignano says. “It wasn’t very open; they weren’t maximizing the space they had.”
Plainfield-based CT Builders and Services brought Prignano’s plans for the house to life. She reimagined the kitchen—carving out a more spacious footprint and highlighting a partially vaulted ceiling with faux beams—and replaced a mix of wood, carpet, tile flooring with natural oak running continuously throughout. “It makes the space feel more open and less cut up,” she says. She also created custom storage solutions in the entryway and dining room so everything the family needed to stash out of sight—from winter coats to serving platters—could have a proper place to land.
1. (above) In the foyer, “we created a little entry moment with a mirror and console table, and this is actually functional, too, because we included some little stools, so if someone needs to sit down to put shoes on they could, and the stools get tucked right back under the console table,” says designer Elizabeth Prignano. “And I will say that though we do use a lot of custom elements in our designs, not everything is custom or high-end. We mix high and low, so some of these items are from Wayfair and Amazon, and I think it just makes it more accessible this way.”
2. The original kitchen floor plan featured a peninsula and eat-in area where the homeowners had placed a round dining table and chairs. “The family felt like they didn’t have enough workspace or enough storage space, so by creating this long island, it automatically gave them a huge working space,” Prignano says. “They could also have easy meals [at the island], so while we got rid of the table, they still have the same function as they had before, but they can use the surface for cooking and prepping as well.” The lighting fixture above the island is from Crate & Barrel.
3. Lack of light was another complaint with the old layout. “It was so dark in the kitchen before, so we doubled the amount of natural light coming in by increasing the window size, which really created a beautiful backdrop for the farmhouse sink,” Prignano says. The new design also replaced an underutilized closet with tall pantry cabinetry and added a coffee station. “It’s close to the dining room and family room so when they have extended family over, they can easily make coffee and access that beverage area.”
4. Prignano chose these kitchen stools with metallic legs in a similar tone to the champagne bronze finish of the cabinetry hardware. “This light gray bouclé kind of matches the gray in the veining of the quartz [countertops] as well as the gray on the Roman shades,” Prignano says. “And it’s super durable. With kids, the client needed something that could be scrubbed and hide stains, and even though it’s a lighter color, because of the performance capability of the fabric, it’s perfect for them.”
5. Willowbrook-based Cabinetry Solutions & Improvements LLC built the custom cabinets, including the hood. “We wanted to incorporate the wood tone of the island and the White Dove finish from the cabinetry on the hood to really just tie it all together,” Prignano says. The quartz used on the countertops also extends up as a backsplash, topped off by a ledge for spices and other accessories above the stove. “It gives such a modern, clean look to have the backsplash be cohesive with the countertop, and it’s just super easy to maintain as well.”
6. In the living room, Prigano incorporated the homeowners’ existing sofa and focused on revamping the fireplace wall. The new limestone surround is set off by a painted mantel with simple, clean lines. She also chose vertical planking to add subtle texture behind the wood accent shelving.
7. “The homeowner found this rug, and it was lovely and brought in the blue tones from the pillows in the family room,” Prignano says. “She did want to find chairs that were very easy to clean, so you’ll notice six of the chairs don’t have fabric on them and that is just to be able to easily wipe them.” Black cabinetry on either side of the cased opening into the living room provides much-needed storage for serveware. “They have a huge extended family and they like to host dinners, so one of their requests was storage for all of their dining items.”
8. A wooden buffet provides a serving surfaces and additional storage as well.
9. Prignano decided the powder room was the space to infuse some color. “We used this beautiful blue paint from the Magnolia paint line, called Sir Drake, which ended up being really pretty,” she says. To add some nature-inspired elements, she chose a grasscloth Roman shade and botanical-leaning artwork.
10. (top) and 11. (bottom) “We mixed metals, too—we used champagne bronze on the mirror and black hardware on the vanity, and the sconce above had both the champagne bronze and black on it, so it tied it all together.”
Photos: Glow Interior Designs
